The Flight
by Robincall22
Summary: An ancient tribe kit named Bird's Flight is carried away by an eagle, thought by her Tribemates to be dead. When she wakes up, however, she's far from home, and there are strange cat scents nearby. When she goes to investigate, she finds the Clans, and is taken in. What will happen? Will she try to return to the mountains, or will she make a home with the Clans?
1. Chapter 1

Leader- Stoneteller (formerly known as Sharp Hail)

Cave-guards-  Falling Dusk- a muscular dark ginger tom

Star Song- a beautiful long furred cream she-cat

Echoing Thunder- a stormy gray tom with green eyes

Sharp Stones- dull gray, sleek furred tom

Eagle Swoop- brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Rushing River- silver she-cat with green eyes

Raven Tail- a muscular black Tom with blue eyes

Prey-hunters-  Morning Star- golden furred she-cat with beautiful stormy green eyes

Melting Ice- white she-cat with green eyes

Racing Hare- brown and white splashed she-cat

White Skies- white she-cat with gray flecks, like a sky in a blizzard

Far Eyes- gray tom with very sharp eyesight

Thin Ice- dark gray tom with gray eyes

To-Bes- Missing Star- stormy gray and golden she-cat with green eyes, training to be a prey-hunter

Light Star- light gray she-cat with stormy green eyes, training to be a cave-guard

Blizzard Paw- stormy gray she-cat with stormy green eyes, training to be cave-guard

Queens- Dark Flowers- dark golden-brown she-cat with gray eyes and crooked whiskers

Kits- Bird's Flight- lean brown tabby she-kit with light, stormy blue eyes, very beautiful

Slick Stone- dark gray sleek furred tom

Drooping Branch- brown tabby tom

Willow Leaves- gorgeous silver tabby she-cat with dark stormy green eyes

Elders- Old Water- black she-cat with amber eyes and a graying muzzle

 **I am, of course, as always, accepting OC's, but only for clan characters, particularly Windclan, Riverclan, Shadowclan, and Skyclan. I will accept a few characters for Thunderclan, but not too many. Sorry!**


	2. Chapter 2

Bird's Flight pounced on Slick Stone, rolling him to the ground. "Ha! I win!" she crowed. She hopped off her brother and raced across the cave, then spun around, ready and waiting for him when he skidded up to her.

"What are you doing?!" cried a shrill voice from across the cave. "That is _not_ the way the Tribe Of Rushing Water fights! What is the matter with you?! Stoneteller! Come look at Bird's Flight! There's something wrong with her!"

Sharp Hail sighed. When he had chosen Dark Flowers to have kits, he had done so because she was the Tribe's best cave-guard, not because of her beauty and compassion. Raven Tail was the Tribe's best hunter, until Sharp Hail decided to promote him to a cave-guard due to his growing muscle. The Tribe had not had any kits for almost 16 moons, and Sharp Hail was getting worried. If the Tribe Of Rushing Water didn't get kits soon, they would be doomed. So he had paired Dark Flowers with Raven Tail to have kits. Although, perhaps he should have chosen a different she-cat to pair with Raven Tail. Raven Tail loved his kits, but Dark Flowers was not a cat he wanted to go near in order to spend time with them.

"Stoneteller! Stoneteller, what are you doing?!' Dark Flowers annoying voice yanked Sharp Hail out of his thoughts. "Get over here! There's something wrong with my kit, you need to cure her!"

"Dark Flowers," he grumbled. "How many times do I have to tell you? Just because your kit doesn't play fight like a Tribe cat fights doesn't mean there's something wrong with it!" He didn't voice the dreams he had the night before, where an older Bird's Flight had been fighting another cat with those same battle moves, far from the mountains. There had been other cats fighting too. It seemed like there were multiple tribes, fighting, for no reason. One cat had died in his dream. Bird's Flight had crumpled to the ground in grief, although the cats she was fighting alongside seemed almost happy. The cats in the other tribe had seemed sad, but few seemed as sad as Bird's Flight.

"But then why isn't she normal?!" Dark Flowers whined. Sharp Hail suddenly had words flowing rapidly out of his mouth, without his permission.

"Because she has an important destiny that none of us could ever dream of," he snapped. "Now leave your poor kit alone so that she can continue with her destiny! As far as I am concerned, you are no longer her mother. She will be raised completely by the rest of the Tribe, together. You are a terrible mother to your kits, and just because Bird's Flight is unique does not mean that you can treat her the way you do!" He spun around and marched back into his cave.

 _Tribe of Endless Hunting, please tell me the destiny of that kit. For Raven Tail's sake, if nothing else._ He closed his eyes, and drifted into a dreamless, and hopeless, sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Bird Flight watched as her friend, Missing Star, and her sisters, Morning Star and Melting Ice padded into the cave, jaws full of prey. She had often heard of tales of the cats who had left the mountains when Stoneteller was young. She was glad that they had left, because now the Tribe had plenty of food. She waited for the cave-guards to follow the three prey-hunters in, and sure enough, the other two to-be's, Light Star and Blizzard Paw, along with their older brother Falling Dusk slunk into the cave. Bird's Flight continued waiting, but no other cats came in after them. On shaky paws, Bird Flight walked up to her friends.

"Where's Raven Tail? Why isn't he with you?" she questioned, not really wanting to know the answer.

Sure enough, Missing Star, Light Star, and Blizzard Paw all glanced at each other before Light Star ran her tail along her flank, while Blizzard Paw gave her a quick lick over the ear. "We're so sorry, Bird Flight. But Raven Tail was taken by an eagle. We almost saved him, but then Falling Dusk fell and broke his leg. We're so sorry. We know you were closest to him." As Missing Star finished speaking, Bird Flight crumbled to the ground. She let out a despairing wail, and multiple cats poked their heads out of their dens. Far Eyes and Thin Ice, Raven Tail's younger brothers, trotted up the despairing kit and took no time in figuring out the situation. Bird Flight's littermates went to find out what the matter with their sister, and they soon turned to their uncles for support. Old Water, Raven Tail's mother, came out of her den and sat in a stunned silence after Thin Ice told her what had happened. Of course, Dark Flowers took that moment to saunter by, wondering where the three remaining kits she cared for had gone.

"Shut your pathetic muzzle, dumb kit," she snapped at Bird Flight. When the she-kit didn't stop crying, the cruel queen hissed and took a threatening step forward. When Bird Flight ignored her still, Dark Flowers snarled in rage, and lashed out, claws unsheathed. Bird Flight jerked back, still crying, but now seething with fury. She flew at her former mother, claws outstretched. She raked her claws down her face, then jumped back as the angry cat swung at her. Bird Flight jumped to the side, ducking as she shot her paw out again. She dove toward Dark Flowers front legs, tripping her, then dodging out of the way to avoid being crushed by her. She then turned and ran back to the to-be den, where she slept to avoid her cruel mother.

A little while later, Stoneteller slid into the den. He sat at the edge of the cave for a few moments until Bird Flight acknowledged him. "What do you want."

"I just thought you might like to know that I'm going to exile Dark Flowers. She attacked a kit. Her own kit, as much as the both of you hate to admit it. She has no right to remain in my Tribe after this. No one else knows that I'm going to exile her, so please don't tell anyone. I hope to see you at the exile ceremony."

After he left, Bird Flight knew that she should be glad that her evil mother was being exiled, but she couldn't help thinking of her brothers and sister. If Dark Flowers was exiled, that would mean that they lost both their parents in the same day. But she had attacked Bird Flight, her own daughter!

It was then that Bird Flight knew she had to make a difficult decision. Protect herself, and quite possibly, her Tribemates, from further attack from the insane Dark Flowers, or help out her littermates and ask for the exile to be put off at least until they became to-bes?


	4. Chapter 4

Bird Flight sat at the entrance to the cave. "I wish I was a to-be already," she whispered, partially to herself, partially to her father, who she knew was watching her. She flicked her ears as she heard pawsteps behind her. She recognized the scent as Stoneteller, who, ancient as he may be, was the sharpest cat in the cave. Bird Flight chuckled to herself in her head as she thought that. How ironic that the sharpest cat in the cave was Sharp Hail.

"I'm very sorry about Raven Tail," rasped the old tom, his muzzle barely a whisker away from her ear. She twitched it, annoyed by his closeness. He took the hint and took a step back.

Bird Flight sighed in exasperation. It had been over a moon since his death, and almost every day, Stoneteller had said something about him to her. "Why do you keep bringing him up? I'm not going to forget my own father, if that's what you think, so you have no need to be so worried."

Stoneteller took a step back as though she had shoved him. "I'm not worried that you'll forget him, not here anyways, but you should be reminded of him often so that you don't forget him where you're going!" he retaliated.

Bird Flight gave him an odd look. "What do you mean, 'where I am going'?" _Maybe he's not so sharp after all…_

Stoneteller started. **(I've always hated the use of that word. It's like, started what? Oh, right, that started in surprise thing. But, whatever, gotta use good words for the story, am I right?)** He stared at Bird Flight for a moment, then abruptly turned and marched to his cave. _Nope, definitely not the sharpest. Maybe he's going crazy? Hmm… I should probably warn someone about that._ Bird Flight got to her paws, but as she did, she saw a tuft of fur float softly to the ground. It was pure black. She went up and sniffed it, but it carried no scent. Then, as she slowly raised her head to the sky, she saw first an eagle winging away to the east, then a raven flying after it. As the raven flew, a feather fell from its tail, floating to the ground until it landed right before Bird Flight's paws. She looked back up just as the eagle came circling back toward the cave, before spinning back toward the east. Bird Flight saw a tuft of black fur caught in its talons, and, letting out a yowl of outrage, leaped from the cave and ran off in pursuit of both the eagle and vengeance for her father.

She ran until the sun was sinking low in the horizon and she was gasping for breath. As she climbed a short rise up to the peak of a mountain, she glanced back to find the eagle. Bird Flight let out a gasp and spun around in a circle. The eagle was gone! _But that's impossible, I just saw it!_ She dashed the rest of the way up the rise, ignoring her aching lungs. When she got to the top, she momentarily glanced down, and as she did, her jaws fell open. There, before her, was the eagle. Perched atop a rock, staring straight up at her. Only then did Bird Flight realize what a fool she had been. She was face to face with a bird three times the size of a full-grown cat, and six times the size of her. She had no idea how to get back to the cave, and it was getting dark.

But as the eagle spread its wings, she realized that the second two were the least of her worries. The eagle shot up the cliff face, soaring above her, higher and higher, until it was just a speck in the sky above her. Suddenly, the speck began to grow larger and larger, until Bird Flight realized that it was plummeting back towards her. She pressed herself against the rock, having nowhere to hide. She could only watch as the eagle swooped down at her, stretching its talons toward her ribcage.

Bird Flight scrunched her eyes shut, but they flew back open as she felt herself being lifted off the ground. She had felt no pain as the eagle picked her up, but sure enough, she was watching as the mountains grew smaller and smaller behind her. She tried to look up, but she was smothered by feathers. She then realized how tired she was, and how oddly comfortable the eagle's talons were. She took what she knew would be her last look at her home, before closing her eyes and sinking into sleeping, thinking that maybe if she had the energy, she could fight the eagle and escape.


End file.
